VP Jallow thanked the outgoing British High Commissioner for UK government’s support to the Government of The Gambia and its people. He noted that the UK government has been very supportive of the Government of The Gambia on a range of issues from education, to democracy and good governance, training and legal support, among others.
High Commissioner Belgrove said there was one key area he had been very pleased to be involved; in supporting the consolidation of democracy in The Gambia.
He said “Increasingly The Gambia is becoming a stalwart for good governance and democracy in an area where that's being increasingly challenged.
“I've been proud that we've worked together on this and we've been able to support not just the government, but the Gambian people on that one."
The outgoing British High Commissioner said further: “We are also very pleased with the support that we've been able to give to the Independent National Human Rights Commission and we've been able to actually support not just things like training and policy development areas, we've actually been able to give physical support in terms of things like solar power, or computers. And that's been actually something that I think we've been very pleased to be able to help with.
"We've also massively increased our sort of military partnership and the training there. So, it'd be difficult to point out a key achievement. We're very impressed with the democratic gains that The Gambia has made over recent years. We were very pleased to be able to support the elections process, and particularly the facilitation of mediation, which was led by the International Institute for Democracy and electoral assistance,"
The British diplomat noted that his government did a lot of work around supporting peaceful, fair and transparent elections in The Gambia. He said they also did a lot of work: facilitation and mediation over the new draft constitution, which he thought “are very important for The Gambia”.
High Commissioner Belgrove further expressed that had been very pleased to support the work of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy at the National Assembly and building capacity within there.
“My first message was to thank His Excellency the President and the people of The Gambia, for the very warm welcome that I was given to The Gambia when I first arrived. And generally, the very warm level of cooperation that we have, between our two countries. Our two militaries are in partnership too,” said outgoing High Commissioner Belgrove.
"We also talked about moving forward on investment opportunities. And we're particularly looking currently at the moment the investment opportunities in the agricultural sector,” he said. “We also looked and talked about challenges around things like irregular migration, and how we can work together on that and discouraging people from taking very dangerous routes to the UK."
He said there are many opportunities for Gambians to apply for work in the UK and get work permits and there are legal routes, which are open.
"And this has been particularly the case, since we've left the European Union that a Gambian who applies through work permit is applying on the same level as somebody in France or Germany or anywhere else and we would like to see The Gambia develop those skills that are portable around the world," he said.
He noted that UK military office had also been visiting their partner teams in Banjul.
“I've enjoyed being here, and will be very pleased to visit or come back to see friends,” he said.
